Music

03 Nov 2023

Behati Prinsloo Reveals 3rd Child With Adam Levine Is a Boy, Says Singer Was ‘So Nervous’ Cutting the Umbilical

Nearly a year after Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and wife Behati Prinsloo welcomed their third child, the Victoria’s Secret model has finally revealed some details about the newest addition to their family. In a chat with actresses Teresa Palmer and Sarah Wright Olsen on The Mother Daze podcast, Prinsloo said that daughters Dusty Rose, 7 and Gio Grace,5, now have a little brother to play with, marking the first time the couple has revealed the sex of their newborn.

Prinsloo said the baby (whom she referred to as “he”), was born in January and arrived 10 days past her due date and that after skipping an epidural or water birth, the experience was exhausting, but also joyful. “I was in this state of bliss but also insane pain and bliss and pain and bliss, and I was fighting this… rollercoaster of feelings and pain…levels,” she said.

She also detailed how Levine, 44, who was present for the birth of the couple’s daughters, was also by her side “every step of the [way]” through their son’s birth and that he still can’t stop talking about the experience. “It was his favorite thing to watch and to be there and to help me through it … and people telling him what to do to help me too,” Prinsloo said.

Prinsloo added that she felt “so connected” to her husband of 10 years, especially when he cut their son’s umbilical cord, which was tricky because he’s left-handed. “He’s a leftie, so… the scissors, it’s always a mess,” she said of Levine’s participation, which she noted made him “so nervous.”

The couple have mostly kept baby No. 3 out of the public eye, giving a teasing glimpse of the unnamed boy in a June Instagram Story in which they posted a pic of the singer lifting their bundle of joy high in the air, with the child’s face obscured out of frame.

Listen to Prinsloo on The Mother Daze podcast here.

03 Nov 2023

Laura Pausini, Latin Recording Academy’s 2023 Person of the Year: ‘I Didn’t Think That Was Possible’

In a few days, Laura Pausini will be honored as the Latin Recording Academy’s 2023 Person of the Year — becoming the first artist born outside of Latin America or Spain to receive the accolade, one of the biggest handed out each year as part of the Latin Grammy Awards celebrations. And although the news took her by surprise, she proudly says that she feels Latina.

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“For 30 years I always say that I am the most Mexican, most Argentinian, most Spanish Italian… because I have grown up spending many days of my life with you,” says the Italian pop legend, who has recorded in Spanish since the beginning of her career. “Maybe not my blood, but my soul, my ideas, my ideals, I have made them grow with yours, and I feel Latin.”

On Wednesday, Nov. 15, on the eve of the 24th edition of the Latin Grammys — which for the first time leave the United States to take place in Seville, Spain — Pausini will be celebrated at a gala in which other stars will perform versions of her well-known repertoire. It’s something she has done for other Persons of the Year, from Juan Gabriel in 2009 to Marc Anthony in 2016 to Marco Antonio Solís last year. That means she knows the drill, and won’t know in advance who will sing for her that night, or which songs they will sing.

What she does know is that she will be accompanied by her entire family to cap off a year of great personal and professional achievements, including her March wedding to Paolo Carta after 18 years together; the recent release of Almas Paralelas, her first studio album in five years; her upcoming world tour, which starts in December; and of course, her award as Person of the Year.

“It is the true celebration of a life, of the lives of us Pausinis. I don’t see it only as my career,” says the star. “My family is obviously the one that knows the most about my love for Spanish, for Latin America, and my parents are very excited, my daughter, my husband, my sister will come.”

Born in Faenza, Italy, Pausini started her music career at age 19, rising to fame in 1993 after winning the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival. Her records have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, she has done nine world tours, and landed three songs in the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart: “Las Cosas Que Vives,” “Víveme” and “Como Si No Nos Hubiéramos Amado” — all of them Spanish versions of songs she originally recorded in Italian.

A Latin Grammy and Grammy winner, Pausini also shares a Golden Globe Award with Diane Warren for best original song, for “Io sì (Seen)” from the movie The Life Ahead, which was also nominated to an Oscar. Beyond music, she has been honored with the Starlite Humanitarian Award, the Global Gift Humanitarian Award, and was named Person of the Year by the Diversity Media Awards for her support of the LGBTQ+ community, among other honors.

“Laura Pausini is one of the most talented and beloved artists of her generation whose commitment to advocacy and equal rights is exemplary,” said Manuel Abud, CEO of The Latin Recording Academy, when the award was announced in May. “Throughout her more than three-decade career her extraordinary voice continually breaks down barriers across languages and genres, creating a special bond with audiences around the world.”

You have had a year full of emotions. How do you feel now, just a few days before being honored as Person of the Year?

I feel blessed, I must say, because after 30 years [career] what is happening in my life is not obvious. I realize all that and I feel very grateful. I hope I deserve all that, and that’s why I work so much, especially for the people who are still there, who continue to believe in me, perhaps more than myself, and give me the strength to continue.

What did you think when they told you that you were the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year, being an Italian artist?

They told me that the president [Manuel Abud] wanted to talk to me. Since I had finished co-hosting Latin Grammys a few months earlier with Anitta, Thalia and Luis Fonsi, I thought that something was not good and that he wanted to tell me something about it. So we started this Zoom and he told me: “Laura, on behalf of the Academy, I want to tell you that you are the Person of the Year.”

I mean, very unexpected! Especially because of what you’ve said, I’m Italian, so I didn’t think that was possible for me. I asked him if I could video-call my father, since he was the one who instilled in me the love for music… Each of us was in another city, the three crying with joy. I really started sobbing like crazy, it was very emotional.

I didn’t expect it at all and I am very grateful that I am the first [honoree] who was not born in a Latin American country [or in Spain]. But, for 30 years I always say that I am the most Mexican Italian, the most Argentine, the most Spanish, the most everything, because I have grown up spending many days of my life with you. Maybe not my blood, but my soul, my ideas, my ideals, I have made them grow with yours, and I feel Latin.

Last year, you sang at the Marco Antonio Solís tribute as Person of the Year, and you have also done so at other galas in the past. How do you feel now that you will be the one honored and others will sing your songs for you?

(laughs) That makes me smile. Besides, I’m starting to imagine who will sing, whether it will be my friends I know or new singers. I have no idea because you can’t know, and I know how it works because, as you said, last year I sung for Marco Antonio, but I also sung for Marc Anthony and also for the great Juan Gabriel, so I already had the experience of being on stage as a guest while the Person of the Year did not know. So, this time it’s my turn and I receive it with great pride.

What do you expect from that night?

Well, my whole family will come, and it is the true celebration of a life, of the life of us Pausinis — I don’t see it only as my career. My family is obviously the one that knows the most about my love for Spanish, for Latin America, and my parents are very excited, my daughter, my husband, my sister will come. I don’t know if I can fully make people understand what it means for a person who has always been considered a “foreigner” to feel part of you. For us as a family it is to feel truly loved, as if we were born there. It’s something really very deep that touches a life within a person, more than a career.

You just released your first album in five years, Almas Paralelas. Why did it take so long?

Never before had so much time passed between the previous album and the new one, and I have to say that a lot of things have happened in my life in recent years, some incredible as you also already know, like the Golden Globe, an Oscar nomination, starring in a docu-film about my life… But there have also been moments of great insecurity, fear, doubt, especially thinking about the future as a woman, obviously as a mother, and logically as a singer.

I questioned how I could deserve, for example, the new awards that I won, because with every award that you win comes a new responsibility, and I was afraid of not being able to have new responsibilities. I wondered if I was really capable of accepting a daily challenge with what is happening today, every day, between the wars, imagine in Italy during COVID, but more importantly, with myself. So the truth is that I was blocked for a time. I needed help, and thanks to the people who are by my side, close to me, I regained some of my strength and then I began to challenge myself again, and worked, in a very long search, on new songs. I also worked hard to get to the point where I had the nerve to put my voice and face before everyone’s judgment.

Now I am very happy with what I am singing on my new album, Almas Paralelas. It is a truly conceptual album that covers 16 stories of real people that are different from each other. It is an album that celebrates diversity and the right to individuality, which in my opinion should be respected more as citizens of the same streets, but with different souls, different dreams, different desires. So on this album it’s like we live in a world with shared places, but not necessarily the same ideas. And in this world represented [on the album cover] by the street and its zebra crossing, I’d like there to always be respect and love between the individuals who inhabit it, and I would like for the listener to fall in love with the human beings who live like souls on a parallel path.

What have you learned about yourself in these 30 years of career?

I have learned that my stubbornness has saved me many times. My determination to be very honest with myself, and then with the audience, has allowed me to have no regrets — although it may have happened that some songs work better than others… Sometimes I’ve been suggested to change my style, or adapt more to what worked on the radio. At this point, I am happy to have been determined to listen to my skin in the selections of the songs, obviously trying to have new artists by my side, new producers who will help me maintain my melodic style, but with more contemporary, current sounds. I didn’t want to change.

In reality, I have not changed; I have grown in age and mentality, but I am not a different person. My ideals are the same, so I want my music to continue to be a reflection of my mind.

03 Nov 2023

Friday Music Guide: New Music From Jung Kook, The Beatles, Olivia Rodrigo and More

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

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This week, Jung Kook makes an extended statement, The Beatles give one last farewell, and Olivia Rodrigo remains impossible to pin down. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Jung Kook, Golden 



Jung Kook has spent his entire career on an upward trajectory — first within BTS, scoring global hits and conquering stadiums, and more recently as a solo artist, notching billions of streams (literally) with a sleek brand of pop and smart collaborations. Golden, his debut solo album, takes some time to reflect on those dizzying highs, but also wants to keep the good times rolling: “Closer to You” (created with Major Lazer) allows Jung Kook to hop between forceful declarations and intimate breaths, while songs like the yearning dance track “Somebody” and the opulent surefire hit “Standing Next to You” demonstrate why Jung Kook deserves to be considered a superstar on his own.

The Beatles, “Now and Then”



Positioning a piece of music as “the final Beatles song” naturally provides it with weighty expectations that are impossible to match — so consider “Now and Then,” a demo recorded in the ‘70s that was revived with modern technology and features all four members, a surprise treat hiding in their hallowed discography instead. Along with a new music video directed by Peter Jackson, the wistful, understated “Now and Then” serves as a subtle reminder of the band’s continued power, now more than a half-century removed from their original studio album.

Olivia Rodrigo, “Can’t Catch Me Now” 



Although some of the lyrics to Olivia Rodrigo’s new single “Can’t Catch Me Now,” which comes from the soundtrack to The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, seem to document an action sequence from the upcoming prequel film (“But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze / My footsteps on the ground,” Rodrigo sings), the pop superstar provides a gentle touch to the lilting acoustic track reminiscent of the softer moments from recent sophomore album GUTS. Instead of aiming at flash for the end credits, Rodrigo has unveiled a heartfelt new edition to both the Hunger Games musical canon and her own catalog.

Megan Thee Stallion, “Cobra” 



Megan Thee Stallion’s “Cobra” opens with a two-note electric guitar chug that serves as a snarl — and while Meg has flaunted plenty of braggadocio over the course of her career, her new single warns against getting too close because of how wounded she’s feeling. “Ayy, damn, I got problems / Never thought a bitch like me would ever hit rock bottom,” she spits, locating an impressive balance between emotional vulnerability and head-knocking hooks on “Cobra.”

Marshmello, Sugar Papi 



Marshmello has founded a sprawling, globe-trotting career on deferential collaboration, bending his aesthetic towards various artists in the worlds of pop, rock, R&B, country and everything in between. Sugar Papi, a full-length journey into Latin music, unsurprisingly features a star-studded guest list that includes Young Miko, Nicky Jam, Farruko, Anuel AA, Manuel Turizo and Fuerza Regida, among many others — yet the project sounds authentic and hard-earned, with Marshmello augmenting his featured artists without ever overpowering them, a skill that he’s developed throughout his run.

Editor’s Pick: Spiritual Cramp, Spiritual Cramp



The members of San Francisco punk group Spiritual Cramp have been kicking around for years, both releasing EPs together and operating separately in other projects — but their self-titled debut carries the kinetic energy of a brash young band barging onto the rock scene with intentions of shaking things up. The hooks here are stylish and relentless, each sugary melody cloaking the band’s anger at the state of the world; like plenty of great punk groups, Spiritual Cramp want you to hum along and question authority in equal measure.

03 Nov 2023

Jason Aldean Says ‘Try That In A Small Town’ Video Backlash Was ‘A Little Surprising’

Four months after creating a firestorm with his “Try That in a Small Town” video, Jason Aldean professes to still not understanding what all the fuss was about. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times promoting his just-released 11th studio album, Highway Desperado, the 46-year-old singer said the backlash to the song and video was “a little surprising” to him.

“I mean, I felt like the song would probably start a conversation about the state of the country,” he said of the track that was labelled as pro-gun and a “modern lynching song” by detractors who said the threat-filled lyrics appeared to promote violence. “Us putting that song out and it doing what it’s done just shows me there’s a lot of people out there that feel the same way I feel,” he said of the track that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week before suffering a historic fall from the top spot.

After incorrectly claiming that there are “laws being passed” that prohibit shop owners from retaliating against thieves — the Times noted that an early version of a California Senate bill had a provision that would have prohibited businesses from requiring non-security employees from confronting shoplifters — the singer said he “made a point” in the song’s video to show “people of all races and colors doing things that in my opinion were not cool.”

The controversial video that had Aldean performing in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, TN — the site of the 1927 lynching and hanging of 18-year-old Henry Choate over allegations that he sexually assaulted a white girl, as well as the spot of a 1946 race riot in which two Black men were killed — was pulled from CMT shortly after its debut.

Lyrics challenging those who would “carjack an old lady at a red light,” “cuss out a cop” or “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” were juxtaposed in the visual with images of an American flag burning, protesters clashing with police, looters breaking a display case and thieves robbing a convenience store. The narrative also featured images of a Black Lives Matter protest that appeared to be edited out after the backlash.

Asked if he would have shot the video elsewhere had he been aware of the the well-known history of the video’s location, Aldean said it would have been “more of a conversation,” offering that there have been “a ton of things” that were shot on the same location “and it was never brought up. Then all of a sudden, our video comes out. People were trying to find something where there was nothing.”

When the interviewer asked if lines such as “around here we take care of our own” couldn’t potentially be seen as “white people circling the wagons,” or at the least a “pretty hysterical portrait of urban chaos” Aldean said, “you could take it as that if that’s how you want to take it. But the way you take it, versus the way I said it and meant it, it’s not necessarily accurate. It’s a very simple message: What I see happening, I’ve never seen that in the towns I grew up in in Georgia. It just doesn’t happen, and it wouldn’t last.”

Aldean was also asked to comment on a show he played last year at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in which the crowd booed when he mentioned fellow country star Maren Morris in the midst of his long-running feud with the singer. Morris had earlier taken Aldean and his wife, Brittany, to task for her transphobic comments; Morris’ recent single, “The Tree,” was accompanied by a video that was seen as a response to the “Try That” clip.

“I’ve never talked to her for more than probably 10 seconds. So I don’t really have an opinion about her,” he said of Morris. “The only thing I knew was that she was coming after my wife in the media. Obviously, her and I are on completely different ends of the spectrum as far as our beliefs. But I don’t know her at all, truly. That’s what was so weird for me: This chick’s coming after us, and I’ve never even talked to her before. Yet she claimed to know so much about me and my wife somehow.”

In a lightning round of questions, Aldean was asked if President Biden was legitimately elected and responded, “depends on who you ask,” while confirming that he was “very happy” with his decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccine. As for whether he wants twice-impeached, four-times indicted former one-term president Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee next year, he said it “wouldn’t hurt my feelings. I like Trump. Hung out with him a couple times — been very cool to me. I have nothing but good things to say about the guy.”

03 Nov 2023

The Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ Debuts on Rock & Alternative Airplay Chart After One Day

After less than one day of airplay, The Beatles’ “Now and Then” debuts at No. 37 on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart dated Nov. 11.

In the Oct. 27-Nov. 2 tracking week, “Now and Then” – with all of its airplay logged Nov. 2, after it premiered at 10 a.m. ET – earned 1.1 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. That total includes plays on stations that report to the Adult Alternative Airplay survey, where the track is bubbling under thanks to 136 spins in its first day, and Mainstream Rock Airplay, via 27 detections.

“Now and Then” is the third song from The Beatles to reach Billboard’s rock airplay charts since the lists’ inception (Mainstream Rock Airplay in 1981, Alternative Airplay in 1988, Adult Alternative Airplay in 1996 and Rock & Alternative Airplay in 2009). “Free as a Bird” debuted and peaked at No. 8 on Mainstream Rock Airplay in December 1995 and appeared on the inaugural Adult Alternative Airplay tally (Jan. 20, 1996) at No. 11, while “Real Love” peaked at No. 16 on Adult Alternative Airplay in March 1996.

“Now and Then” is billed as the final Beatles song, first recorded as a demo in the late 1970s by John Lennon and initially meant for the band’s The Beatles’ Anthology series in the mid-‘90s before being shelved by the surviving members of the band. It was completed and released this year after new technology helped extract Lennon’s vocals from the original demo while also using guitar recordings from George Harrison from the initial attempt to finish the song.

The first full week of activity for “Now and Then” will be reflected on Billboard’s Nov. 18-dated charts, including the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100 (encompassing activity tracked Nov. 3-9).

All Billboard charts dated Nov. 11 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

03 Nov 2023

Sheryl Crow Hails Olivia Rodrigo As ‘the Real Deal’: Watch

Olivia Rodrigo officially has the Sheryl Crow stamp of approval. During a Thursday (Nov. 2) appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the nine-time Grammy winner sang the “Bad Idea Right” singer’s praises as she discussed the upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“She’s the real deal. She’s precious,” Crow gushed. “She’s a great songwriter. She seems kinda unaffected by all of it, you know? When I was 19 — her age — I was like, ‘How do you fill out this application for college?!’”

Rodrigo — who took some time to attend class at USC’s Thornton School of Music after wrapping the promotional run for her Sour album — is now 20 years old, making her several years younger than Crow’s highest charting Billboard Hot 100 hit, 1994’s “All I Wanna Do” (No. 2).

The “Strong Enough” singer revealed that she first met Rodrigo “last year during a whole bunch of Grammy stuff.” “We wound up on some stuff together, and she’s super cool,” she added. “She asked me to do this thing when she came to Nashville, and so I was like, ‘OK!’”

The “thing” in question was an intimate, stripped-down September performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville. The pair duetted on Crow’s 1996 hit “If It Makes You Happy” (No. 10).

In the caption for a Sept. 29 Instagram post — which consisted of an adorable photo of the two stars posing with magazines while sitting under hair dryers — Rodrigo wrote, “Pinch me! Sang one of my favorite songs of all time with the greatest of all time @sherylcrow !!!! what an honor!!!!” Crow also reposted the image to her main feed with the caption, “Funnest day ever with the amazingly brilliant @oliviarodrigo! What a talent!! And the loveliest young woman!”

As for Friday’s Rock Hall induction, Crow — who dropped a new song called “Alarm Clock” on Friday (Nov. 3) — explained that she simply “texted [Rodrigo] and said, ‘Hey, would you do the Rock Hall with me?’ And she was like, ‘I’d love to! I’d be so honored!’”

The “Good 4 U” singer — who is also a finalist for top female artist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards — will again join Crow onstage for a performance at the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET.

“I was cool with my kids!” Crow quipped of getting Rodrigo to join her.

Watch the “Everyday Is a Winding Road” singer discuss her relationship with Olivia Rodrigo above, and her performance of “Alarm Clock” on The Tonight Show below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=84A4-7JPz1k&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

03 Nov 2023

LL Cool J & The Roots Reimagine ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ for NBA In-Season Tournament Anthem

As the NBA season embarks on its inaugural In-Season Tournament Friday (Nov. 3), the league tapped two rap cornerstones to form a triumphant anthem: LL Cool J and The Roots combine two of their classic efforts — “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Here I Come,” respectively — to create the official anthem. The video finds LL and legendary Roots members Questlove and Black Thought joining forces to fuse their hits to create a memorable mash-up to kick off the In-Season Tournament.

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Thought first leads the way by chanting the hook from the group’s “Here I Come” before LL takes centerstage to recite his striking verse from his Grammy-winning song. Instead of rapping inside a boxing ring like in his classic video, LL performs on the In-Season Tournament stage alongside the NBA Cup, the trophy given to the winning team.

LL Cool J and The Roots

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According to the NBA’s press release, the anthem “will serve as the musical backdrop for the stages of the In-Season Tournament, starting with Group Play involving all 30 teams and progressing through the single-elimination Knockout Rounds, culminating in the Championship.”

“I’ve been a fan of the NBA ever since I can remember, and it’s a real honor to have my record serving as the anthem for this monumental moment,” said LL in the release. “I’m excited to see the energy of the song translate to the play on the court during the NBA In-Season Tournament.”

Earlier this summer, LL and The Roots shared the stage for The F.O.R.C.E. Tour.

Check out their mash-up above.

03 Nov 2023

Beatles Digitally Reunited in Wistful ‘Now And Then’ Video Directed by Peter Jackson

With a full day to absorb the melancholy strains of the final Beatles song, “Now and Then,” fans had ample time to prepare for the accompanying video directed by Oscar-winner Peter Jackson.

So when the official high-tech sentimental journey dropped on Friday morning (Nov. 3), you could almost hear the nostalgic global sigh at Jackson’s contribution to the final chapter in rock’s most epic tale. The four-and-a-half minute video opens with some guitar tuning and footage of a cassette being pushed into a tape machine as drummer Ringo Starr takes his place behind the kit and bassist/singer Paul McCartney readies his pick.

Once an unseen hand presses play, viewers are magically transported back to the final Beatles recording session in 1995, where McCartney, Starr and guitarist/singer George Harrison began the process of rediscovering a decades-old song demo’d by late bandmate John Lennon. As Lennon’s keening vocals rise up, Jackson juxtaposes a profile shot of Lennon staring out at the sunset with a floating image of the young Beatles goofing around in their prime.

In a release describing the video prior to release, Jackson promised that it would take fans on a “poignant and humorous” journey that invited viewers to celebrate the band’s timeless and enduring love for one another.

Conjuring an image Beatles fans could only dream of, Jackson does that that by sliding a shot of a current-day McCartney in the studio laying down his backing vocals into frame, as he appears to stare across the universe at the ghostly Lennon shadow. The video then cycles through a series of then-and-now pictures and videos of the band in their salad days and a sure-to-be-talked-about sequence in which archival shots of Lennon and Harrison are spliced in aside present-day McCartney and Starr in a recording session.

“Now and Then” is the final song written by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr, and it was finished by living members McCartney and Starr more than 40 years after the group began work on it.

A master of studio tech, the Lord of the Rings director aims to recapture the energy, love and spirit of the group by placing a young Macca next to the now-octogenarian rock icon watching a string section lay down their parts, as a young Harrison goofs around over his left shoulder. Starr plays drums alongside his youthful self and a number of shots find Lennon doing silly dances in a variety of scenarios amid a cascade of previously unseen photos and videos of the band members as children and at the peak of their global pop powers.

In his statement before the video’s release, Jackson described worrying that there was no footage of Lennon’s original late 1970’s home recording of the song’s demon with just voice and piano (and a TV blaring the the background) and none of living members finishing the song last year. Jackson said he was ready to walk away before McCartney and Starr sent him footage of their sessions, with the Beatles’ Apple Corps then stepping in to provide more than 14 hours of long-forgotten film shot during a 1995 session featuring the pair, and late guitarist/singer Harrison in the studio working on the song; Lennon was killed by a deranged fan in 1980 outside his New York apartment building — where the song was demo’d — and Harrison died in 2001.

Jackson also got help from Lennon’s son, singer Sean Ono Lennon, and Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and son, Dhani, who found some unseen home video to add to the project. The band’s original drummer, Pete Best, also offered up some of the earliest film of the band performing in their leather suits that had never been seen before.

With that footage in hand, Jackson — who was also behind the acclaimed 2021 The Beatles: Get Back miniseries — set out to make a project that would “bring a few tears to the eye. The video is complimented by a 12-minute Now and Then — The Last Beatles Song documentary written by Oliver Murray that dropped on Wednesday.

Watch Jackson’s “Now and Then” video below.

03 Nov 2023

Inside the Making of Jimmy Buffett’s Final Album: ‘He Was So Proud of This One,’ Says Longtime Bandmate Mac McAnally

As Jimmy Buffett worked on his 32nd studio album, Equal Strain on All Parts, earlier this year, he never acknowledged that it could be his final set.  

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“I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of this being the last thing he had to say, but I think, in retrospect, he probably was,” says guitarist/songwriter Mac McAnally, who has produced Buffett’s albums with his fellow Coral Reefer Band mate Michael Utley since 1997. “But he never let on. He never surrendered to what was actually happening.” 

Buffett, 76, died on Sept. 1 after a four-year battle with skin cancer and lymphoma. “There were people in our organization that didn’t know he was ill,” McAnally says. “He didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. He just wanted to be this big ray of positivity that he always was. When I went and said goodbye to him the night before he died, he was still smiling just wider than his face.” 

After they finished recording in the summer, Buffett kept tinkering with the sequencing, as McAnally realized the beloved singer-songwriter was rearranging the songs to tell his life’s journey. “When he heard the whole album in sequence, he was so proud of this one in a way that I’ve never seen him be,” McAnally says. “And that may be because he knew it was the last one and he got it right.”

The album, out today (Nov. 3) on Mailboat/Sun Records, opens with “University of Bourbon Street,” which takes listeners to New Orleans, the city where Buffett’s career began more than 50 years ago, and concludes with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mozambique,” a country he longed to visit. In between are autobiographical songs such as “Close Calls” — which recalls some of Buffett’s real-life escapades, including getting beaten up by Sheriff Buford Pusser of Walking Tall fame — and “Portugal Or PEI,” which serves as a travelogue of his wanderlust and also lyrically references past hits “Volcano” and his breakthrough song, “Come Monday.”   

Moving “Bourbon Street,” which features the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, to the first slot “was the last modification to the sequencing that he did,” McAnally says. “And it ends with ‘Mozambique.’ That’s still him wanting to go the rest of the places that he never got to go. From where he started to where he intended to go. It’s a life story in between. He put so much thought into this group of songs.”

Buffett began cutting basic tracks in January at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, and then headed back to his studio in Key West, Florida, to record the vocals, working on the album between concerts until he stopped playing live in May. Though Buffett’s vocal ability sometimes wavered depending upon where he was in his medical treatments, ultimately, McAnally and Utley captured Buffett in very strong form. “I think he really sang well, from the heart, on this one,” McAnally says. “If something has to be your last thing to say, I believe this is one to be proud of.” 

The 14-track album is classic Buffett, with songs representing so much of what has endeared him to generations of fans,  including the humorous “Fish Porn,” written with noted author/columnist and longtime Buffett buddy Carl Hiaasen and McAnally; the easygoing, escapist “Nobody Works on Friday”; the steel-drum-lined “Ti Punch Café” (featuring Angelique Kidjo); and the reflective, yearning “Columbus.”

Buffett adds his familiar island lilt to “Mozambique.” The new rendition features Emmylou Harris, who also sang on Dylan’s 1976 version. “She thanked us for giving her a lyric sheet because she said when she sang on the original with Dylan, he wouldn’t tell her the lyrics. She was just having to watch his mouth,” says McAnally with a laugh.

Buffett, who often posted photos of his Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on his Instagram, also covered “Like My Dog,” a top 30 country hit for Billy Currington in 2011 written by Scotty Emerick and Harley Allen. “Jimmy loved his dogs more than maybe anything on earth except the show,” McAnally says. 

Even though there was no talk in the studio about it being the final album, first single, “Bubbles Up,” written by Buffett and Will Kimbrough, serves as a fitting farewell to fans, with its message of hope and resilience. The song was inspired by Buffett participating in Navy SEAL training, including jumping out of a helicopter into the ocean with a weighted pack on his back. 

McAnally recalls the advice the admiral overseeing Buffett gave: “’When you’re down in the water and you don’t know where you are, follow the bubbles. That’s how you get to where you’re supposed to be.’” 

McAnally knew they were on to something special with the song, so much so that he prodded Buffett to replace a vocal recorded earlier in the process. “He generally doesn’t like to be pushed in the studio, and I made him go back and work on his vocal,” he says. “I was like, ‘This is too good, Jimmy. Let’s record it again and really tell the story…’ He didn’t want it to be slick and polished, he wanted it to sound like a bunch of people around a campfire figuring out what’s important about life.” 

When McAnally played Buffett the revised version, “He smiled as big as he’s ever smiled on the happiest day of his life, but tears just rolling,” he says. “He was like, ‘This is so good. Thank you.’”

 “Bubbles Up” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart for the week ending Sep. 14, according to Luminate. It also started at No. 2 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart. Earlier this week,  CMT debuted the emotional video, which includes footage spanning Buffett’s adult life and his love for spending time on the water and on the stage. 

On a lighter note, the album also includes “My Gummie Just Kicked In,” a song inspired by a line Paul McCartney’s wife, Nancy, jokingly said after she tripped while she and McCartney were out to dinner with Buffett and his wife. McCartney plays bass on the track. Buffett flew to Los Angeles in June to be with McCartney in the studio, while McAnally advised remotely.

“Paul wrote himself out a very detailed Paul McCartney chart to play the song. He put a lot of work into it,” McAnally says. “It’s very rare that someone can go in by themselves and overdub on a track that’s already been recorded and add energy to it, but Paul McCartney played bass on that track like a 20-year-old Beatle. It’s unbelievable.”

The title track, written by Buffett and McAnally and inspired by a saying from Buffett’s grandfather, reveals the secret to a good nap is making sure one’s body weight is equally distributed. “It takes a second to realize he’s talking about something good,” McAnally says.

Cameras captured the recording process and a few behind-the-scenes videos have already rolled out. McAnally says it’s possible that a documentary on the making of Equal Strain could be forthcoming. “It will be the final complete project,” he says of the album. “Since we have quite a bit of content that arose from it, I think they’ll probably make use of that  because there’s never a bad time to see that smile on his face.”

Buffett didn’t leave a lot of music in the vault, but McAnally says there are some existing tracks he’d also love to see released. There were only two songs recorded for Equal Strain that didn’t make the album, but, “We have a few things over the years of Jimmy that are really good,” he says. “There can be a posthumous release, but it will be just literally a collection of things that we did and we never put out for whatever reason. He’s got a gorgeous version of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Amelia.’ I can’t believe we didn’t put it out when we recorded it.”

McAnally says Buffett’s wish was for the Coral Reefer Band, who backed Buffett in various iterations since the ‘70s, to continue. “The Coral Reefer Band is second family to all of us. We are a family. And Jimmy wants us to continue and we want to continue,” he says. “There’s ongoing discussions about the best way to do that, the most practical way to do that and how to do it in a way that is worthy of the legacy that we’re part of.” 

In the immediate future, McAnally will take part in a tribute to Buffett on Nov. 8’s CMA Awards. The salute will also include Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson, three acts that he’d recorded with and were deeply influenced by him. 

03 Nov 2023

Emilia Before & After: Argentine Artist Talks New Album ‘.mp3’ & Her 2000s Obsessions

Emilia is bringing back the early 2000s with the release of her sophomore studio album .mp3, released Friday (Nov. 3) under Sony Music Latin. 

If the title is any indication, the Argentine pop artist traveled more than 20 years back to seek inspiration for her conceptual 13-track set. Each song, including the previously-released “Jagger,” “No_Se_Ve,” and “GTA,” are styled with the “.mp3” at the end because that’s how music files were saved in portable music-playing devices, such as an iPod.

“I imagine what I would have been like as an artist in those times,” Emilia, who was born in 1996, tells Billboard. “Being able to take your favorite music everywhere was something incredible to me. I wanted to revive that nostalgia in my new album, so that people would remember those moments that never come back.” 

Far beyond its sick (as we’d say in the 2000s) concept, .mp3 celebrates women. For the album, the pop singer reeled in artists such as TINI, Nathy Peluso, and Ludmilla, because she wants to send an empowering message to her fans. 

“In Argentina, we have created support among ourselves,” she says about working with her fellow Argentine artists. “We push each other, and we celebrate each other. I wanted my audience to see that reflected in the collaborations on this album.”

Musically, she navigates away from her signature pop-reggaetón sound, as heard in her debut set Tú Crees En Mí?, and experiments with hip-hop and various electronic rhythms, such as house, showcasing the beats that were popular back in the days. 

“My evolution as an artist has been an exciting journey,” she notes. “And as I’ve said before, doing things from the heart is really what’s authentic for me.”

In the hype of her new album, the Argentine darling shares some of her obsessions of the 2000s and today. Check those out and listen to her .mp3 below.